Original scientific paper
The Medicalization of Female Fertility – Points of Significance for the Study of Menopause
Lynnette Leidy Sievert
Abstract
This paper illustrates the need for human biologists to take into account the far-reaching
influences of biomedicine in the study of reproductive aging. Data were drawn
from western Massachusetts and Puebla, Mexico, to illustrate the effects of hysterectomy
rates, tubal ligations and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on studies of age and
symptom experience at menopause. First, in examining age at natural menopause in relation
to level of education, a country-specific, non-random pattern of participant exclusion
due to hysterectomies was encountered. Second, in examining symptom frequency
in relation to late childbearing, sample sizes were very small in part due to a high frequency
of tubal ligations (43%) in Puebla, Mexico. Third, hot flash frequency during the
two weeks prior to interview was, unexpectedly, not lower among women who used HRT.
Human biologists who study the biological process of reproductive aging must also attend
to the cultural influences of biomedicine.
Keywords
menopause; aging; fertility; hormone replacement therapy; Mexico
Hrčak ID:
28101
URI
Publication date:
16.6.2003.
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